Burnsville mayoral race comes down to Heart of the City develop...

Willenburg has my vote as does any non-incumbent for the city council. The current bunch didn't listen to what we wanted, or more precisely, didn't want when it came to the Heart of the City and Fine Arts Center debacles, and now we don't want to listen to them anymore.

ABK, anybody but Kautz here.

ABW,Anybody but Willenberg here. Clever huh.

Are you kidding me Mayor Kautz? "We listened very carefully to what our citizens wanted us to do," Kautz said." The people may have wanted a PAC built with private dollars, but the minute this became a publicly funded personal agenda with our tax dollars, you did not listen to the people that came before the council and signed petitions. Kautz, Workman and Gustafson fast tracked their personal agenda through the approval process with no reagard to listening to the Burnsville tax payers. If you really listened to the citizens of Bursville why did you not put the Performing Arts Center,$20 Million, and parking structure $3M+ to a referendum and really listen to the people and let the people decide?

Can't have a referendum unles theres going to be an increase in taxes. Mn law..........FOOL

By the way....What grade are you in?

Burnsville Resident wrote:

Are you kidding me Mayor Kautz? "We listened very carefully to what our citizens wanted us to do," Kautz said." The people may have wanted a PAC built with private dollars, but the minute this became a publicly funded personal agenda with our tax dollars, you did not listen to the people that came before the council and signed petitions. Kautz, Workman and Gustafson fast tracked their personal agenda through the approval process with no reagard to listening to the Burnsville tax payers. If you really listened to the citizens of Bursville why did you not put the Performing Arts Center,$20 Million, and parking structure $3M+ to a referendum and really listen to the people and let the people decide?

I wish the newspaper archives were free. There were a few articles about the near revolt that happened when the PAC and a couple of other non-essential fluff projects were announced by the Mayor and City Council as in the works. City Hall was barraged with negative phone calls. It only took a day or two for them to backpedal and announce that they were only ideas, things they were thinking about.

I think the only thing they were thinking about was how to get them done behind the taxpayers backs, which they did. Vote them out.

HHow duMB does the mayor think she can creat a downtown near a highway.Teh $20M Art center is another waste of $$$$$$$

conspiracy theory wrote:

Can't have a referendum unles theres going to be an increase in taxes. Mn law..........FOOL
By the way....What grade are you in?

There was a tax increase as the part of the way to fund it. Why do you think we said no to the PAC.......MORON.

Does anyone remember when Dan Gustafson "pushed" the panic button the night of the vote for public funding of the "performing arts center"? The police entered the council chambers. The chamber was filled with Burnsville taxpayers against the "pac"! Yet Kautz, Gustafson and Workman went ahead and voted against the wishes of the Burnsville taxpayer.

AND, maybe think to vote new City Council Members in. Mary Sherry and Mike Esch instead of Gustafson. Kautz will not have her sidekicks there anymore. Sherry and Esch will be looking out for the taxpayers. Electing Willenburg would be a catastrophe, as he has not done anything in the public eye! At least Kautz has a good reputation and has done things. Willenburg would probably like to shut the city down. What is his claim? Pretty scary. He can't spell - that is for sure.

I have to agree with the poster "Vote". Jerry Willenburg's only message is what he won't support, but what are his ideas for the future of Burnsville? Where is his vision? If we want to live in a suburb that is evolving in a positive, interesting way we need Mayor Kautz. However some changes at the city council level will be very positive, we need some balance.

Keep in mind Liz Workman is running for a Dakota County position. If you don't like her as a city council representative, giving her a county-wide position would be more of the same, no listening.

I love Burnsville wrote:

I have to agree with the poster "Vote". Jerry Willenburg's only message is what he won't support, but what are his ideas for the future of Burnsville? Where is his vision? If we want to live in a suburb that is evolving in a positive, interesting way we need Mayor Kautz. However some changes at the city council level will be very positive, we need some balance.
Keep in mind Liz Workman is running for a Dakota County position. If you don't like her as a city council representative, giving her a county-wide position would be more of the same, no listening.

Also keep in mind Workman's opponent voted for the PAC as well...she is on the Planning Commission - AND if you want more of the same from the County level, which has been next to nothing for Burnsville, the opponent is the niece of the current commissioner....

Kautz has bullied her way around the city and turned a weak mayor form of government into one where she uses bully techniques over city boards, staff and weak council people. We need a complete change on the council. This means adding Willenburg, Sherry, and Esch. The two running for county commissioner are both under qualified and merely looking to get the juciy $80,000 plus salary. It is amazing we can not find qualified people for such a position.

I love Burnsville wrote:

I have to agree with the poster "Vote". Jerry Willenburg's only message is what he won't support, but what are his ideas for the future of Burnsville? Where is his vision? If we want to live in a suburb that is evolving in a positive, interesting way we need Mayor Kautz. However some changes at the city council level will be very positive, we need some balance.
Keep in mind Liz Workman is running for a Dakota County position. If you don't like her as a city council representative, giving her a county-wide position would be more of the same, no listening.

Kautz uses the mayoral office as a bully pulpit. Get her out of there, and start over. If Willenburg is the only choice at the current time, so be it, but he won't be able to do any more damage than Kautz has done.

Happy to See Them Out wrote:

Kautz has bullied her way around the city and turned a weak mayor form of government into one where she uses bully techniques over city boards, staff and weak council people. We need a complete change on the council. This means adding Willenburg, Sherry, and Esch. The two running for county commissioner are both under qualified and merely looking to get the juciy $80,000 plus salary. It is amazing we can not find qualified people for such a position.

Try $61,600 if the commissioners didn't take the raise in 2008 or $64,700 if they did - check the county web site if you don't believe it

Another Bville resident wrote:

<quoted text> Try $61,600 if the commissioners didn't take the raise in 2008 or $64,700 if they did - check the county web site if you don't believe it

Do they get any benefits outside of the pay, like car and meal allowances, or health care, or anything else that would inflate the base salary?

Burnedtaxpayer wrote:

Does anyone remember when Dan Gustafson "pushed" the panic button the night of the vote for public funding of the "performing arts center"? The police entered the council chambers. The chamber was filled with Burnsville taxpayers against the "pac"! Yet Kautz, Gustafson and Workman went ahead and voted against the wishes of the Burnsville taxpayer.

Well if you saw the crowd that was there that night, standing on their chairs screaming from their seats you'd push that button to - especially when most of the yelling was being done by a former City Council woman who had previously voted for a PAC - the chambers had more people in favor of the PAC then opposed, the opposition was just louder - glad I wasn't the one sitting up there, never know who's packing heat and this group didn't seem very stable....

Pragmatist wrote:

<quoted text>Do they get any benefits outside of the pay, like car and meal allowances, or health care, or anything else that would inflate the base salary?

You are right there, something I hadn't considered... I suppose if you add it all together it could get close to that. I believe they get mileage and health care also, don't know about the meals - Good point!

Give it a rest wrote:

<quoted text>Well if you saw the crowd that was there that night, standing on their chairs screaming from their seats you'd push that button to - especially when most of the yelling was being done by a former City Council woman who had previously voted for a PAC - the chambers had more people in favor of the PAC then opposed, the opposition was just louder - glad I wasn't the one sitting up there, never know who's packing heat and this group didn't seem very stable....

If there is that much vocal opposition, maybe it should be voted on by the electorate, instead of pushed down our throats by 6 people that pushed their agenda instead of listening to the constituency.

conspiracy theory wrote:

Can't have a referendum unles theres going to be an increase in taxes. Mn law..........FOOL
By the way....What grade are you in?

The only FOOLs I know are the ones who believe the propaganda put out by the Kautz machine. Grade level is not important but maturity and intelligence are. If you need help deciding who to support
I suggest you google positivechangeforburnsville. Have a great day!